Monday, December 26, 2016

Taurus Spectrum .380 ACP--New for 2017

Taurus has announced that they will be producing a new micro-.380 ACP pistol for deep concealed carry. Taurus has had modest success with their .380 model TCP 738. The new Spectrum is much sleeker looking than their earlier model and bears a resemblance to the original Ruger LCP. One thing that the Spectrum does have in common with the 738 is that both of them almost have sights. A pleasant feature of the Spectrum is that they will be produced in a plethora of color schemes. Otherwise the pistol's specifications are exactly what you would imagine them to be:

6 round magazine capacity with a 7 round extended magazine.

2.8 inch barrel

An overall length of 5.2 inches

An unloaded weight of 10.2 ounces

A completely unnecessary internal lock

An MSRP of about $286.00

I would expect to see an in-shop retail of $250 or less.

Although we here at the Average Joe's Test and Evaluation laboratory don't have one to wring out it does not mean that we weren't doing important work on this pistol. We spent a great deal of time coming up with names for each of the different color options Taurus has shown us.

This one is named "Sea Foam"

This option was a tie between "Feces" and "Chocolate Nougat"

This one is "Monochrome Yawn"

"Mint Chocolate Chip"

And lastly another tie between "Snow and Asphalt" and "Stormtrooper"

Taurus frequently gets a bad rap. I have owned several and while all of them have been accurate and reliable, I am aware that this has not been the experience for a lot of people. One of the problems for retailers may be due to the multiple colors. Obviously not all of the colors are going to be popular and only time will tell which ones are going to move and which ones will sit on the shelf (I'm guessing "Feces").

My experiences with Taurus l wouldn' buy another if they made them red/white & blue...Bought a PT709 slim last Nov. This is my third one & was instrumental in the sale of at least 8 more. They were great & everyone loved them..Mine is 5 years old. This last Nov bought another on a Black Friday special...Like what the heck happened... It resembles the old pt709 slim but that is it.. Gone is the fit, finish, polished tapered feed ramp, & like what is with the super gritty trigger that hangs up half way through it's pull...? Taurus still uses a picture of the Older PT709 for it's advertisements..Talk about bait & switch !,, Never even fired the junker, Sent to Taurus first part of Nov with side by side pictures Old Vs New...Still waiting as of 01/24/2017...

Clearly designed to compete with LCP2. I have a TCP which I upgraded with NiteSighter sight dots, Galloway trigger, springs and rod. Quite accurate out to 10 yards and has been reliable with brass cased ammo. Still a very long trigger pull. Tried the LCP2 as a rental and felt it was also good, again, considering the small size. This model should be very appealing to women and also to men who need something that absolutely will not print. The prominent lock is silly but I bet was designed as a feature for women with small children in the house. I know this is not logical but probably will help sell the gun.

My Ruger LCP is so superior to my Taurus TCP, it is not worth talking about.I have a Rossi 22lr revolver, that got sent in for repair, after 5000 rounds.I have bought Taurus, when the price was $100 lower than a SW - Ruger ect. If you are within $50 of a SW or Ruger, do yourself a favor, spend the $50.

DH, you would be wrong. If you are talking about gen 1 LCP's, definitely wrong. Let's go through the steps.

Function:

Taurus TCP:

1) Locks to the rear on the last shot, sling shot with new mag or simply hit the slide release which is not that stiff.2) Sights. As rudimentary as they are, they DO exist3) cost. Typically, 50-100 less than the LCP 14) Trigger. Not even a contest. Smokes the LCP in ease and smoothness. 5) Concealment. I would argue that the TCP is thinner and slimmer overall. Sharp edges could be eliminated but, considering you can buy one ROUTINELY on sale for 169-199 I wouldn't worry for a gun that disappears when you want it to.6) It was such a success that Ruger finally LOWERED their price in part to compete as well as seque int he LCP 2.0

Ruger LCP, Gen 1 if you will1) Slide does NOT lock to the rear. Interesting if it jams, wouldn't you say?2) No sights3) Cost 50-100 more than the TCP4) Trigger is long and Herculean in effort. It's THE biggest gripe. Read up.5) Fatter.6) It used to cost 279 just about everywhere...or higher.....7) Trigger guard. Good luck wearing any glove in the winter and shooting it easily....cuts out or impairs up to 1/2 of the country.

Ruger LCP 2.0? Whole nutha ball game...they are NOW correcting all the things that were wrong in gen 1. Guess what, it's now back up to 279.00. Or more.....Do NOT get me wrong, I don't think you can buy a better VALUE revolver than ruger to include the SP 101's and GP100's. Excellent value for the money....I own a Ruger SR9 and love it...beautifully balanced....also own 3 of their .22 pistols, and two ruger rifles to include the infamous 10/22. I'm a ruger fan but, the Ruger LCP Gen is well made but, feature poor compared to the Taurus TCP 738. I still carry this more than any of the other handguns I own (16 and counting) because it's just so concealble and COMFORTABLE to carry....mine was the stainless with 2 mags and that goofy pouch for $229 in 2010. I still carry , I still shoot it, over 1,200 rounds by now and do NOT have ANY reservation that it will serve if called upon. To be clear, I AM going to BUY the Ruger LCP Gen 2 because I like the feel, look, handling of the pistol. The Gen 1? I'll pass. Better weapons out there. For less.

The Spectrum looks interesting but, the TCP 738 is smaller so....there's...that....you carry a .380 PRIMARILY for concealability. Most of us work in offices and discretion is of the utmost importance. It's not what I would prefer to carry but, it works and noooooooooooooooooo one knows.....YMMV.